Elves
The elven people of Meaghana were once the world's most powerful nation. With time, and the wars between their dark kindred, the drow, the elven people have splintered into several subraces and no longer view themselves as one people. The elven people still have retained some of their racial identity, and thus are not as splintered as the humans are. More often than not, an elf will side with another elf before siding with a member of another race against an elf. This court does not this holds true with the Drow who are the most hated of all of the elves enemies There are 6 recognized subraces of Elves: High, Grey, Sylvan, Sea, Averelle, and Drow. Two other groups of elves exist and are refered to as the Changed, due to the fact that they were specifically altered from the subrace from which they descend. These are the Yulmanesti and the Daemernesti. Half-elves, while not a subrace of elves, do make of a small portion of elvendom. High elves'': The High elves are the most numerous and a common type of elf. Physically, they tended to be between 5 and 5 and a half feet tall, and weigh between 90 and 120 lbs. Their hair tends towards blond or brown, although darker colors are not unheard of. Their eyes tend towards greens and browns. They're also pale and very beautiful. The High elves are very free and carefree people. They're very close knit and tend to seem rather snobby to other races, although not as much as the Grey Elves. The High elves consider Mittierim to be their personal God and protector. The High elves also consider the country known as Entrieties, and the forests there in, as their ancestral homeland and lived in large numbers there almost exclusively, until its destruction. Since that time the High Elves have found themselves in a Diaspora, living in Fetesca, Medina, and Asteria. Grey Elves: The Grey Elves, now nearly extinct, consider themselves to be the purest of the elven way of life. They tend to be just shorter than High elves rarely reaching more than 5 ft. 4 in. they also tend to be slimmer than the High Elven cousins. The most striking difference however between the High elves and the Grey Elves is the color of the hair and eyes of the Grey Elves which both tend towards metallic shades, as well as the Grey Elven tendancy to be paler then High elves. The majority of Grey Elves completely believe in the utter superiority of elves to all other forms of life. Grey Elves tend to be very practical and have a strong work ethic. Most of them tend to be wizards, or researchers of some type, allowing the physical work of their cities to be done by servants of other elven sub races. The Grey Elves consider Silthasias, the former elven emperor, to be their personal protector and they believe the gifts given to them by their pure blood prevents them from becoming corrupted, as the other races of the elves have been. There is a small group of Grey Elves, numbering under 20, who have recognized the danger of their kin, and are attempting to end the evil that the Grey Elvish racisim represents, even if this means the final extinction of their people. Sylvan elves:'' ''' The Sylvan elves, also known as Wood Elves, are the most reclusive of the elven subraces. They tend to be the same size as High elves although they tend to be stronger. Their hair eyes and skin tone tend to darker colors and they're more tanned than any other subrace of elf. They prefer the solitude and peace of nature to the companionship of any others including their own race. When forced to interact with others they tend to be very gruff and choose to speak more with actions and less with words. Sylvan Elves are also the most widespread of any of the elven sub races. Tribes of them can be found in almost any largely wooded area of the world. Sylvan elves disdain the use of most Arcane magics and the only mages among them are the Sylvan elementalists. Sea Elves: The sea elves are the only sub race of Elves that have maintained a large nation. They're approximately the same size as the High elves, although their skin is shining blue and their hair tends towards greens or blues, as does their eyes. Sea elves have gills on either side of their necks and breathe water, although thanks to the blessings of Lythus they have regained the ability to breath air as well. Sea elves are very close in temperament to the high elves, in fact one of their former Empresses, Talil, was a high elf. The sea elves hold the belief that Mittierim is the protector of the elven people, but worship Lythus primarily as the lord of the ocean. The sea elves' empire lies beneath the Grey Sea to the west of the continent of Lerias, and due to their difficulty with land travel it is very rare to see sea elves away from this area. Averell'': '' The Averell are the legendary winged elves. Physically, they're smaller and lighter than their land bound cousins, as is necessary to allow them to fly. The Averell tend to be the palest of all elves and it is very rare for an Averell not to have blond hair and blue eyes. Pthalo is the racial Goddess of the Averell, as she embodies much of their beliefs of peaceful living and cooperation. The Averell are native to a small island near the continent of Grompfk to the south. There are, however, several tribes of the Averell living in various mountain ranges on the continent of Lerias. Drow:''' The Drow represent all that is evil and dark about the elven way of life. No one is sure exactly when the split between the surface elves and the Drow occurred, for not even the elven lore speaks of the incident. It is known, however, that the Drow are the descendants of elves whose hatred called them to leave the original elven homeland of Entrieties. These elves sought out safety in underground tunnels that went even deeper than the mines of the dwarves. The generations of life in these tunnels turns skin of the Drow black is night, but the mystic energy trapped deep within the planet gave them powers as no other elf has. Physically the drow were slightly larger than your average high elf, with the women being larger than the men. Their hair is usually solid white or gray and there eyes are typically red. The Drow once worshiped the Goddess of Loss, Fern, but her priesthood has recently been unseated by Belandra the Goddess of Poisons. The Drow continue to dwell in the dark caverns under Lerias, the greatest of these is the dark elf city Kaerzeron. Yulmanesti: The Yulmanesti are the descendants of the elves that were taken to Verenka, the 343rd level of the Abyss, during the Elf War. Yulmanesti literally means "the Branded people." As part of their tortures, Mazraliphon linked together the reveries of all of the Yulmanesti. Not only do they relive their lives but the torturous lives of their ancestors. This makes the Yulmanesti as a whole very dour and sorrow full. It also tends to lead to a martyr complex in which the Yulmanesti try to end all suffering for others even though they will always suffer. Yulmanesti resemble High Elves, but are exceedingly pale with dark hair and eyes. Daemernesti: The Daemernesti, meaning 'people of shadow' is the name that was chosen by the Drow that had rejected their dark heritage and were broken free from the grip of the Nightmare Rock, by the High Priestess of Pthalo. They resemble high elves except that their skin is a shade of light gray, similar to light granite. Their eyes are almost always a shade of blue, with the only exceptions being occasional greens, and their hair ranges from black to blonde. Notable Elves Trillia Anvorath, Mother of Mittierim Rannoch, Elvish Warlord Category:Races Category:Elves